Medical Uses
HIBSAGO (bepirovirsen), from GSK, is an antisense oligonucleotide (ASO) approved in Japan as a functional cure for chronic hepatitis B (CHB) virus infection in adult patients who have received at least 6 months of prior nucleos(t)ide analogue therapy and meet pre-defined viral markers.
Bepirovirsen is designed to recognise and inhibit the production of hepatitis B virus RNA, reducing viral proteins and hepatitis B surface antigen (HBsAg) in the blood and stimulating the immune system to help achieve a durable, sustained response. In the pooled B-Well 1 and B-Well 2 Phase 3 trials, 6 months of treatment achieved functional cure in 19% of adults with HBsAg of 3000 IU/ml or below (233 of 1,220, versus 0 of 614 on placebo), and in 26% of those with HBsAg of 1000 IU/ml or below (200 of 768, versus 0 of 393 on placebo). Functional cure means HBsAg and hepatitis B virus DNA remain undetectable for at least 24 weeks after stopping all treatment.
